The project has a steering group of seven very experienced community workers and managers from CLSP, Brighton Housing Trust Advice Centre, Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership, Partnership Community Safety Team, Money Advice and Community Services, Chinese Educational Development Project and Brighton & Hove Chinese Society. Its purpose is to provide ongoing evaluation of the project and act as a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of best practice.
The Community Access Project started in February 2004 and some of its main achievements to date are as follows:
- The creation of a Minority Ethnic Access Booklet, which enables BME individuals to have a better awareness of the advice services provided in Brighton & Hove. It has been translated in six languages used by the communities which have access problems in the city.
- The development of a Minority Ethnic Diversity Access Toolkit to enable advice agencies in Brighton & Hove to develop their services in ways which encourage use by BME communities. The CLSP has expressed an interest in promoting the toolkit as a model for agencies in other regions.
- The creation of Minority Ethnic Access Questionnaires, which aim to obtain feedback from BME users and are available in six languages.
- The Bureau is currently drafting a training programme on cultural awareness and implementation of the toolkit. The aim is to raise the awareness of public authorities and advice agencies in Brighton & Hove on the needs of minority ethnic communities, and training sessions will be delivered in March 06.
- Since May 2004, the Bureau has been providing a Chinese Outreach Advice Service and quarterly Chinese Newsletters to the Chinese communities in Brighton & Hove. The aim is to increase access for the Chinese communities in the city and result of these is quite significant. At the beginning of the project, there was confusion in the Chinese communities about the role of the adviser and that of the CAB. Individuals from the Chinese communities wanted to know whether or not the adviser was from the authorities and whether or not there was a hidden agenda. An enormous effort had been made to communicate the aims of the project and the CAB through the newsletters and other community functions. Since then, more trust has developed and the amount of users has been increasing.
